38 



PiEONIA MOUTAN. 



a moveable frame placed over them when they begin to grow, for the preserva- 

 tion of their flower-buds. They do best in a mixture of loam and peat. They 

 may be increased by layers. The most successful method of layering is to lay 

 down some of the stems just before vegetation commences, and cover them 

 entirely with two or three inches of soil ; the buds will push, up above the 

 ground, each bud forming a plant. 



Pseonies appear to have been known at a very early period, for, according 

 to Anderson in the work before quoted, they were known to Theophrastus, 

 Pliny, and Dioscorides. 



They appear to have been introduced into this country about fifty years ago. 

 One of the varieties of P. Moutan, the variety papaveracea, when in perfection 

 must be truly magnificent ; its flowers are white marked with purple. It was 

 introduced by Captain James Pendergast, who brought it for Sir Abraham 

 Hume in the year 1802, in whose garden at Wormleybury Mr. Sabine states 

 (Hort. Trans, vol. vi. p. 470) it had formed, in the year 1825, a bush forty feet 

 in circumference and seven feet high, which in the middle of April was covered 

 with flowers, almost unrivalled in magnificence, having produced 600 flower- 

 buds, of which 130 were taken off, with the view of increasing the size of the 

 other flowers. When expanded they were about ten inches in diameter, and 

 sometimes more. 



It is a native of China, and, according to the Missionaries' account, published 

 at Paris in the year 1728, it is one of the most cherished plants of the Chinese. 

 They are said to have cultivated it for upwards of 1400 years, and to have 

 varieties to the number of 300, embracing all colours, even black ! 



The generic name is derived from Pseon, a physician, who first employed one 

 of the species in medicine ; and who is said, according to the Greek legend, to 

 have used it to cure Pluto of a wound inflicted by Hercules. They have, in a 

 great measure, lost those medicinal powers for which they were once celebrated. 



